How to Find the Best Amazon KDP Keywords for Your Book
Amazon gives you 7 keyword fields with up to 50 characters each. The best KDP keywords are specific reader-intent phrases (like “cozy mystery small town bakery”) not broad genre terms (like “mystery”). Fill all 7 fields with 4 unique keywords each for maximum discoverability.
What Amazon keyword fields actually do
Amazon uses your 7 keyword fields to match your book to reader searches. These aren’t tags or hashtags — they’re search phrases. Amazon combines them with your title, subtitle, and category to determine when your book shows up in search results. You don’t need to repeat words that already appear in your title.
How to research keywords (free and paid methods)
Free:Type partial phrases into Amazon’s search bar and see what autocomplete suggests. These are real searches from real readers. Also check the “Customers also bought” section of comp titles for theme ideas.
Paid: Tools like Publisher Rocket and Book to Blurb’s keyword tool pull actual Amazon autocomplete data and competition metrics so you can find high-search, low-competition phrases.
Keyword mistakes that kill discoverability
- Using single words (“romance”) instead of phrases (“second chance small town romance”)
- Repeating words across multiple fields
- Including your book title or author name (Amazon already indexes those)
- Using subjective terms (“best book ever”) that no one searches for
- Leaving fields empty — you get 7 fields, use all 7
How Book to Blurb generates 28 keywords from your manuscript
Book to Blurbreads your manuscript, identifies themes, tropes, settings, and character archetypes, then cross-references them against Amazon autocomplete data to generate 28 unique keywords across all 7 fields — each one a real phrase readers actually search for.
Want all of this done for you? Upload your manuscript and get a complete Amazon KDP listing in 10 minutes for $9.99.